My Band Name For Today

• Suspicious Copper
  
• Ambush Parade
• Panda Cam
• Cursive Letters
• The Red Shirt Treatment
  

Does "Ambush Parade" sound a little too much like "Amish Paradise"?

"Cursive Letters" goes on my list of Words That Don't Mean What I Think They Mean™.

Here's a tip for any marketing copywriter: Before you write or pitch any lazy, uninspired advertising campaign, type your slug line into Google. I'm talking of course about the ill-conceived "You Deserve the RedShirt Treatment" health care campaign.


It's the 21st century, and anyone with a basic level of pop culture savvy is aware of Star Trek. You no longer have to be a geek to be at least mildly conversant in the dozens of Star Trek tropes that pervade American culture.

Go ahead and Google "Red Shirt" or even "Redshirt" and see what comes up. "You Deserve the RedShirt Treatment" indeed!

Is this what free national health care will get us?

Excerpted from "All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek" (ISBN-10: 0517883864):

"Anyone with even a passing interest in Star Trek should know this rule: Never, ever, ever wear a red shirt--not under any circumstances. Don't do it.

Pick any episode. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, a series regular like Uhura and some guy you've never seen before are standing on the transporter pad. If the guy is wearing a red shirt, he will not live past the first commercial. Somewhere on the planet below certain death awaits.

I've watched these guys in red shirts get shot, be blown up, be disintegrated, have all their blood drained, have every cell in their body explode and otherwise meet the most painful and horrible deaths imaginable. "